


All The King's Men

by vacant houses (the_lost_robot)



Series: All the Strings of Your Heart [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Black Paladins AU, Body Horror, Crack Treated Seriously, Friendsheith, Gen, Kuron lives, Kuron-centric, POV Second Person, Season Seven AU, Shiro (Voltron) Has a Clone, Shiro has many clones, Shiro-centric, clones survive AU, season six au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 04:04:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15833388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_lost_robot/pseuds/vacant%20houses
Summary: Your name is Takashi Shirogane.Except it isn't.The scene doesn't make sense. There are people around - dozens of them. Each in the same black spandex suit and identically shaped body.Each with the same face.Your face.Your face from before Kereberos.Your body with both arms.OR:A clone wakes up.





	All The King's Men

Your name is Takashi Shirogane. 

You wake up and you're floating in liquid purple. You don't drown on it oddly enough, even though you choke and splutter in your panic at finding yourself submerged. The liquid begins to drains while you feebly try to figure out what in the world is going on.

A second after all the fluid leaves, you are released - from what? Thick glass vanishes, you catch a glimpse of familiar dark hair then a strong pair of arms gather you up just as gravity decides to reassert itself.

"I've got you, I've got you," a voice soothes in your ear as you stagger on unsteady feet.

Keith, you recognise distantly. How did you get here-? The last thing you remember is the battle with Zarkon, phasing through his giant mecha suit to steal his bayard. But you don't recognise the healing pod. Its colour and shape is wrong, the fluid…

"Hey, hey, hey Shiro, it's okay, I've got you."

You allow yourself to indulge in the comfort of Keith's arms. He runs a hand soothingly along your back and you are so touch starved that you are pitifully grateful for the small amount of human contact. It has to have been a very close call with Zarkon, you reason, for Keith to be so openly tactile. It would certainly explain the different healing pod.

But it's weird that the rest of the team hasn't made their relief known, now that you're awake.

You crack an eyelid open and stare over Keith's shoulder.

This isn't the Castle of Lions.

It's the first thing you think. It's the only thing you think for a long time. Because the rest of the scene doesn't make sense. There are people around - dozens of them. Each in the same black spandex suit and identically shaped body.

Each with the same face.

Your face.

Your face from before Kereberos.

Your body with both arms.

You tremble in Keith's arms. "Keith," you begin slowly, beginning to feel sick and afraid at whatever is going on. "Keith, I don't understand…?"

He draws back and you finally get a good look at his face. He appears older, his body is certainly more filled out than you last remember. Soberly, Keith meets your eyes, an apology written in the lines of his face. "This is a Galra cloning facility," he says softly and rips everything you know about the world apart.

* * *

 

Your name is Takashi Shirogane.

Except it isn't.

It's the only one you know however so you decide to hold on to it for the moment. You have twenty or so years worth of memories rattling inside your head that insist that Takashi Shirogane, pilot of the Kereberos mission and Black Paladin of Voltron is who you are.

It's not real.

None of it is real.

The Galra...the Galra made you. You - or rather a man named Takashi Shirogane had long feared that they had turned you into a monster of their design with the battles in the arena and the replacement of your arm. But in your case, right here, right now, you are literally the creation of the Galra.

A blank slate that they had filled with the lifetime and personality of another man.

You aren't given long to wallow in this earth shattering realisation, the fracturing of your own identity. Keith nudges you up and shoots you a regretful look. "I'm sorry," he says. "I really am but I need to help the others."

You understand, you do. There are still so many tanks left, still so many Takashi Shiroganes to wake up, each needing Keith's help. Your heart bleeds at the realisation - once you were the only one who would have had Keith's undivided attention, the only one for whom he lowered his walls. You had worked hard to earn his trust and respect and while you were glad to see him open up and rely on the other paladins, the bond between the two of you remained special and unique.

Can that bond really remain intact, when each of the other yous, the other Takashi Shiroganes with their identical memories, know Keith exactly the same way? Would he be able to pick you out again amongst all these other Shiros after he turns away from you?

Or will you vanish, your face forgettable amongst a crowd of your own?

You resent him, abruptly, as you are released from the safety of his arms. What right did he have to wake the others up? Why had he woken you up at all? It would have been better, you decide, not to know. He should have destroyed you in your sleep.

But you know that isn't like Keith, know that he has a deep appreciation for all things living. You know _-your friend desperately wants to see you-_ how much you mean to him and you think about how much he means to you. Could you -if you were Takashi Shirogane and you found that the Galra had cloned Keith - could you do it? Kill dozens upon dozens of him and live with that decision?

No, you decide and let the anger cool. You don't know what the right thing to do in this moment. It's a situation in which you think there's no such thing as a good decision. All there is to make do and that's what Keith appears to be attempting so you decide you might as well follow suit. Maybe one of these other Takashi Shiroganes is smarter than you. Maybe he'll know the right answer.

It's a foolish thought, foolish hope. Identical faces, identical thoughts.

You reach a tank. You stare at the body inside -a twin to your own. You stare at the right hand made of flesh and blood, then lower your gaze to your own. Once upon at time, that had been metal. It's weird to think you've gone backwards, unnerved by rightful flesh and blood, so accustomed to the Galra arm in your memories. You curl your hand into a fist, marvelling at the moment. Then you activate the pod and-

And-

You can't do this, you realise. There's a body - _your body_ \- slumped in your arms and you don't know what to do with it. The thought of comforting the other clone flits briefly through your head but your mouth remains stubbornly shut. There's nothing you can tell this person that'll make it better.

You should have-

What? Left them in the tank? Left them to rot? What gave you the right to make that decision? Each one of you is equal. The only difference is the order that released you from the tanks. The only way to be fair is to give the same treatment to each and every one of you. Either you are all asleep in the tanks or you are out, and since you're awake, then awake it is for everyone else.

The Shiro in your arms coughs and splutters, clearing his lungs of that purple liquid. "What?" you hear him mumble, then he pushes you back and you stare into each other's face.

Shock widens his eyes, then his features harden. "Who-?" He raises his right arm defensively as you back off, knowing that even without the Galra prosthetic, the arena had turned Takashi Shirogane into a deadly weapon.

"Easy," you say, eyes darting across the platform for a glimpse of Keith. He's preoccupied with a clone so you know that you're on your own for this.

"Who the fuck are you?" he snaps distrustfully.

An excellent question. One that you suspect you'll never have the answer to. "Same as you," you nod your head at your surroundings. "This is a Galra cloning facility."

Takashi Shirogane is a smart man. You hadn't needed more than that to figure out what you are and aren't, this clone is no different. You think you should feel sympathetic to your...you don't know what to call this person, what they are in relation to you. In any case, it's hard to drum up empathy as he suffers through the same harrowing realisation you went through despite being in literally the same position only minutes ago. But why would you - Takashi Shirogane has always been hardest on himself and there's nothing that anyone can do to fix this, especially not you and you and you and you...

You don't tell him it's okay, like Keith had, because that's a lie that you wouldn't want to have heard from yourself. Keith can get away with it because you automatically have a level of faith in Keith that you currently don't have in yourself and quite frankly, given your origins, don't think you ever will. Instead, you give this other Shiro a stiff nod and back away from him like he's a stranger even though you share every possible aspect of a life.

This is your first day of truly being alive and already you hate every moment of it.

* * *

 

Keith leaves and you don't even get a chance to say goodbye to him.

You hear him saying something about checking on the Black Lion - he must have taken over just like you - like Takashi Shirogane had wanted. He exits through a door at the end of the platform and you are left alone with yourself. None of you seem keen to strike up conversation and really, you aren't surprised. What can you say, that's new or surprising, when these other people are thinking exactly the same thoughts as you?

Your eyes track across the platform, you easily count at least twenty awakened clones. But that's paltry compared to the numbers still asleep in their pods, that you hadn't woken after it was discovered that some of those bodies are dead or severely injured. Keith had said...Keith had said that none were to be left behind. An admirable sentiment, though part of you can't help but feel that it's misplaced. But you also know that Keith means what he says and its clear that he's set his mind to rescue each Shiro in this facility.

Except - he doesn't come back.

In his place, a group of Shiros enter through the door Keith had departed through. At the head of the group, it's lead by Takashi Shirogane.

Or, at least you think so until you get a good look at him.

He's wearing the Black Paladin armour. There's that distinctive scar banded across his nose. His hair is streaked with white. His arm is...is-

It's twisted, horribly mutated with sharpened points jutting out of it. Violet light pulses through the cracks between the sheets of metal. It's unnaturally long, this Shiro is off-balance hauling this arm around.

What happened to Takashi Shirogane? What had the Galra - it had to be the Galra- done to him? What happened between the fight with Zarkon and now? How long has it been, Keith had looked so much older.

What is going on?

The group that he's leading bring with them what your brain immediately classifies as space fork-lifts. Keith had asked about something to move the pods, hadn't he? Silently you and the others gather as the group gets closer.

"Are you Takashi Shirogane?" it takes you a moment to realise you're not the only one who voices this question. Of course, nothing about you is original, especially not your thoughts.

The man in the paladin armour stops.

"No," he says. "I'm not."

A revelation like that should cause a ripple in the crowd.

It doesn't.

His eyes are defeated and haunted. You'd all known the answer before he had even opened his mouth.

"We can't stay here," he continues. You listen to him only because he has to know more about what is happening, where the rest of the team is, what Keith is doing. "The Castle of Lions is about to be attacked by Prince Lotor. Keith has gone ahead to help the rest of the team but he gave instructions to catch up. We have a transport ship so we need to load up the rest of the pods and go after them."

You don't know who Prince Lotor is but it's not important. The team is in danger and that alone has you snapping into action when before all you could muster was ambivalence towards those still stuck inside the pods.

"One last thing," the clone in armour says firmly. "This is the only order I am going to give: none of us are to be alone. Stay in groups at all times."

It's a odd order - annoyingly restrictive because you are dying to get a chance to be by yourself, away from these identical faces.

"Haggar…" the hairs on the back of your neck rise at the name. The clone swallows and his face somehow grows paler. "Haggar can control us when we're on our own. But her influence is negated when we're together."

"It's true," one of the clones in the group chips in. His face is shadowed by some terrible memory. A few others nod as well.

Your frustration and desire for privacy is short-lived. Immediately, you resolve to never been alone again for a single moment in your life, anything to keep Haggar from exerting her influence on your mind. At the same time, you realise - this is why you were woken up. To be a shield made of identical bodies. To protect -who? The clone in the armour, you suspect.

Whose idea had this been? You help haul a pod over to the fork-lift but your thoughts are no longer so charitable towards Keith. You had assumed purely altruistic motivations on his part for waking you up. But if Haggar has a live connection right into everyone's brain and you're just being used as protection for one man - not even Takashi Shirogane but instead a clone just like yourself, this isn't a life you want to live. To deal with the unsettling reality of being a copy, you had privately decided you were all to be treated equally, not a single one elevated above the other. This clone doesn’t fit in with this world view and you dislike him on this alone.

But you don't know enough yet, so you decide to let the issue go for now. Instead, you help carry pod after pod to the Galra transport ship. Eventually, it is loaded up, both with pods and any supplies you can fit in and you settle yourself in for launch in one of the cargo holds.

It'll be a long flight. This isn't one of the Lions and even if it was, the Castle of Lions is still several systems away. The pilot -not the Shiro in armour with his right arm twisted out of shape but he does settle in the cockpit as well- after informing you of the flight details says that he'll keep you all updated.

As soon as the ship has put enough distance between it and the facility, someone activates the explosives that had been planted on unanimous agreement. There was no way you were going to leave that facility functional behind you. Instead, you had scoured every inch of it to ensure no pod was left behind before blowing it all up in a blaze of glory.

Out of everything you’ve dealt with today, it’s the one bright spot, the first moment of happiness you experience.

Several minutes later, over the comms you hear:

"Let me tell you about what I know about Operation Kuron."

Operation Kuron is the plan that birthed you, you learn. The Shiro in armour doesn't know how long it's been going on for. He doesn't know where the real Takashi Shirogane has gone. Quiet conversation between the other clones reveal all your memories end at the same place: the battle against Zarkon. Collectively, you deduce that is the last anyone has seen of your predecessor. Several months afterwards, one of the clones had been activated and released - whilst believing he'd escaped from Galra captivity. He'd made his way back to the team and then had unwittingly undermined it from the inside.

Okay, you decide, okay you can see what the Galra were trying to do even if you abhor every inch of their plans. 

But what none of you can understand is _why_ so many clones.

It's an unsettling question, one you quickly decide to leave alone. Knowing or not knowing why doesn't change the reality. Instead, you chew on the terrifying realisation that Haggar has been spying on the team for months on end and knows everything there is to know about the Voltron Paladins.

You decide, no matter how much you hate that you may or may not have been woken up purely to be some sort of psychic meat shield, that Voltron is an extremely  vulnerable position and fixing that comes before resolving any existential dilemmas.

"The sensors are picking up something," the pilot suddenly interrupts the discussion about Operation Kuron. "I...don't know what it is - I haven't seen energy readings like this before. But it's coming from the direction of the co-ordinates Keith left us."

The team. Something has happened to the team and fear grows inside you. You've never even met them but you know that you died before allowing harm to befall on them if you could. It's written into your DNA.

"I can't clear up the data we're registering," the other Shiro mutters over the comms. "This is a transport ship, not a scientific vessel. But still - this spike of energy is _huge_ and we're not anywhere near the system. Whatever's causing it, I can't even think of a reason of what it could be. But it can't be anything good."

You know, you all know that something has happened to Voltron. The journey ends up taking a day to make. The first day of your life and you spend it terrified that Voltron and the people that matter most to you in the universe are dead.

"This is it," the pilot eventually announces and activates a screen in the cargo hold.

There's nothing out there.

Nothing but space.

"We aren't picking up anything," the Shiro in armour murmurs. "No signs of Voltron. Nothing."

Voltron is gone.

**Author's Note:**

> After watching season 7, I've been dithering back and forth as to whether I wanted to write the clones making the time-jump with the rest of the team or not. Both scenarios appealed to me - I'd wanted to write a season 7 crack fic where there was a million extra Shiros sprinkled into the show. But exploring the fallout of the clones not making the jump with the team and then spending a couple of years on their own in a universe that was falling apart without Voltron, I also thought would be fascinating. 
> 
> Here's to hoping I get around to writing both.


End file.
